Meeting up with old friends.

NOTE FOR WHEN BACK HOME. THIS NEEDS TO BE PUBLISHED 29th SEPT 2100hrs

So there are now five boats in. (LMAX, Derry, GB, Garmin and Qingdao). Although very basic, Clipper race village has a good atmosphere as more boats arrive. But the crews are really moaning about the lack of facilities. 

After getting the blog up to date I strolled over to the marina to see Dhruv and Mike. It was great to see them. Mike's lost loads of weight and Dhruv looks like a South American Drug Baron! He took great delight in showing me the pictures of him dismantling the boat's entire IT setup in an attempt to fix the boat's comms problems! - Clipper's just binned the whole lot and is just buy new stuff! 

Then there were the injuries. GB had a crewmember in the rigging when something happened that broke his wrist and incised the side of his chest - needing 100 stitches, put in by the skipper. But that was after they got him down first! Needless to say he's in hospital and will probably miss the next two legs!

Then there was the exploding block that would have taken someone's head off if it wasn't for somebody's calf muscle being in the way to take the hit. Now that person has a hole in their leg!! Oh, and somebody fell into the bilge and broke her finger today!! 

The water maker is still causing issues amongst the fleet with boats coming up with their own fixes. LMAX is going to another marina to get some of its decals redone - so they're going to use the trip as an opportunity to see if it's worked. 

Rumours abound about Andy Ashman's tragic accident - the latest one being that the helmsman gybed at the wrong time, causing the main sheet (rope) to shoot across and strike Andy across the neck. Let's just hope that's not true. 

Clipper has just announced that leg one will finish at 21:00hrs (local) tomorrow (Wednesday) after which time, boats not over the line can then motorsail the rest of the way. This is because of forecast light conditions and so all crews can make the prize giving on Friday. My initial reaction is that Missi will be cheated of a flying finish. But then, I think it's a good idea so that crews get to spend some quality time with friends and family. We'll have to see what happens. 

Here are some pics of the boats in the marina on Monday.....